Still Dream
by nyanqueen
Summary: For once, he wanted to be alone. Alone, he could dwell in his memories. There had been a palace made of ice. And a snowman that could move and talk. And a queen who made both of these. Post-ROTG and post-Frozen. Kinda AU. Cover image not mine.
1. Looking Back

_Somewhere over the Caspian Sea - Midnight_

It was dark and it was cold.

But he wasn't scared at all.

If anything, he felt a bit lonely.

He knew that he had lots of work to do.

It was already late December, after all.

He didn't want to go back though.

At least, not yet.

For once, he wanted to be alone.

Alone, he could dwell in his memories.

There had been a palace made of ice.

And a snowman that could move and talk.

And a queen who made both of these.

* * *

 _8 years ago_

 _Frozen Lake, Burgess, Pennsylvania - Early Morning_

It was well over a year since the Guardians defeated Pitch, and the world was relatively peaceful. They saw neither hide nor hair of any Nightmares either. Though they knew that Fear was always around waiting for the chance to strike, they hoped that its King would stay hidden away for a long time.

Outside of his duties, Jack spent many of his days visiting Jamie and his friends when they weren't at school. Sometimes, he would drop by the Warren to play a prank on Bunny, the Workshop to see what new toys North had, the Tooth Palace to chat with Toothiana or Baby Tooth, or the Island to simply check on Sandy.

Everything was going well for Jack Frost, all things considered. The Spirit of Winter and Guardian of Fun couldn't have been any more content of his non-life than he was then.

It was summer in Pennsylvania though. Temperatures were high and the sun was shining brightly. The surface of the lake he called home was melting but the depths remained frozen solid. In all the years he'd been around, he had never seen the whole lake fully melted, likely because of his constant presence.

Bored out of his mind, he'd been thinking to visit the Himalayas to see if the place could use a flurry or two. It didn't hurt to watch courageous adventurers conquer the peaks either. It was mostly adults who traversed the dangerous trails, especially those of Everest, but their smiles of victory gave Jack a glimpse of the children they had once been. These made him want to try and inject some fun into their lives too.

Having made up his mind, he'd been about to ask the Wind to take him to Nepal when it whispered in his ear. It said that it had an urgent message from Mother Nature. Well, that was something new since she rarely talked to him. Except for when she assigned him territories as she did with other ice spirits, she did not communicate with him that much.

Jack gathered from the message that Mother Nature sensed that something weird was happening over in Norway. Given that was under his jurisdiction, she wanted him to check it out. He was tempted to argue that it was supposed to be summer over there so it would be weird for him to go. He tended to drop temperatures and cause drafts wherever he went, after all. Then again, this was _the_ Queen Mother of Nature he was talking to, so he just bit his tongue and headed out.

* * *

 _Somewhere over a fjord in Norway - Early Morning_

The moment Jack arrived in Norway, he really did feel that something was off, though he couldn't put his finger on what it was. His stomach was roiling and his fingers were tingling from the strange energy all around. He found that the odd feeling was especially strong around the fjord he was flying over at the moment.

A cruise ship could be seen a good distance away but apart from that, there weren't any towns around the area. The cliffs looked pretty normal too, so he couldn't figure out what was up with all the weird vibes. It was a typical fjord, just like the many others found in Norway.

Flying down the rock face, he noticed a tiny flower growing from a crack. It looked white from afar but up close it was iridescent like the wings of a butterfly. He'd never seen that kind of flower before and wondered if it was a native species found only in that country. Out of curiosity, he gingerly touched a petal, which felt so soft and so fragile. It didn't freeze under his touch so he hoped it would be strong enough to live through the next winter.

"Ready the anchor!"

Jack swung around in surprise only to find a massive ship a few meters behind him.

His mind drew a blank before it finally settled on one question, " _when did that happen?"_

The vessel he was currently gaping at looked nothing like the cruise ship he had seen a few minutes earlier. Plus, that had been headed away from him and not towards him, making it impossible to have reached him within the short span of time that he hadn't been looking.

Taking a closer look at the ship sailing right past him, he realized that it had a wooden hull and was powered by the wind. It looked different from the welded steel ships he'd seen around the coasts of America and was closer in design to the pirate ships in Sophie's story books. Many sailors were running around the deck untying knots, pulling ropes, and basically shouting at each other in nautical terms Jack had no idea about. That made him lose interest in their conversations altogether.

Turning away from the unexpected ship, he saw that there were now several others on the bay. There were almost a dozen of them, and they all had these big sails. Most of them were way ahead of the ships passing by him now.

Flying high above to see where they came from or where they were going, what caught his eye was a town on the coast. High walls, turrets, towers-it looked like it just popped right out of a fairytale. Seriously, all it lacked was a dragon terrorizing the village and kidnapping a princess. It looked too fantastical, unlike the urban centers Jack had explored in recent years. Was it one of those impossibly well-preserved historic sites where tourists flocked to?

Whatever the case, it hadn't been there earlier when he was inspecting the fjord, he was pretty sure of that.

* * *

Before he could call himself crazy or an amnesiac, he zipped into the quaint town. From his perch atop the clock tower, he saw that it was full of people wearing traditional costumes. Even the street vendors were garbed in fancy folk garments, and as were the children. Perhaps they were celebrating a special tradition. Either way, they were excitedly heading into the castle built on the water.

Following the flow of the crowd, he floated into the palace courtyard. And it was there that his jaw promptly met the ground.

 _What the flurries was this?_

A pair of fountains was frozen into giant ice sculptures of angels. Meanwhile, the whole breadth of the wide open space was decorated with icicles, sunflowers, and floating snowflakes glinting in the sunlight. And none of the great numbers of people gathered there were even surprised that this was happening in the middle of summer.

 _How was this even possible?_

General Winter, Frau Holle, and minor ice spirits didn't have artistic skills of this caliber. Well, yeah, he could pull something like this off, but he swore he had nothing to do with it this time.

Suddenly, the bell tower rang and the crowd began to settle down. It seemed that, in his distraction, Jack hadn't noticed that all the ships on the bay had safely anchored and everyone on them had already shuffled into the courtyard when the bell rang.

A soft murmur passed across the crowd, and a little girl smiled up at Jack. He crouched down to her level and softly asked her what was going on.

"Princess Anna is getting married today!"

Wow, so he was gatecrashing a wedding. Good job, Jack. It didn't look like the couple would mind though, considering that it looked like everyone in town was there to celebrate.

He gave the little girl a soft pat on the head and stalked towards the castle building. Whoever created this icy masterpiece was likely inside and he just had to know who it was. That person was likely the source of the weird vibes he and Mother Nature felt in the air. The faster he could figure things out, the faster he could get back to visiting the Himalayas.

Finding an open window, he slowly floated inside. The ceremony was already well underway and he didn't want to let in a draft with his entrance. He slinked to a corner of the room to observe, though what he saw were mostly ladies in classy ball gowns and guys wearing shirts with tassels on their shoulders.

The groom was a blonde guy with broad shoulders, and the bride (or the Princess Anna he'd heard about) was a brunette with a charming smile. Seemed like a good match.

* * *

As the minister droned on and the couple exchanged their wedding vows, Jack caught a glimpse of a woman standing near the front. She had platinum blonde hair that looked almost white, but that wasn't what caught his attention. No, it was her dress. It was in the same shade of blue as his hoodie, and it was embedded with tiny ice crystals.

He could only see the back of her but he knew that this was the person he was looking for. She was the one who created the icicles and snowflakes outside, he was sure of it.

The crowd inside the building started clapping their hands and shouting their congratulations. The ceremony had finally ended, it seemed. The couple, with their wide smiles and blushing cheeks, thanked the attendees and everyone proceeded to walk outside.

Jack lost the woman in the crowd but found her again only moments later in the courtyard. From behind her, he could see that people were bowing to her which he thought was weird before he realized that there was a crown on her head.

"Queen Elsa!"

Everybody greeted her, which meant that everybody could see her. That took out the possibility that she was a spirit like him. Unless all of these people believed in her like how children believed in the Guardians and made them visible. Jack figured that he would find out soon enough when he got to talk to her.

When the people turned their attention to the newly wedded couple, Jack took the chance to circle the queen and approach her from the front. He didn't want to surprise her in case she was able to see him. The last thing he wanted was to make her feel provoked and prompt her to attack him. He really didn't want to get into a fight with another ice spirit right now, what with such a huge crowd around.

What he didn't expect, though, was getting his breath taken away when he finally saw her face.

Over the years, Jack had seen his fair share of beautiful women from many parts of the globe. But she...she... _she..._!

For the first time in centuries, Jack thought he felt a live heart beating inside his chest as the world suddenly seemed to move in slow motion.

* * *

 _Author's Note: I'm planning to make this into a multi-chapter story but I'm not sure if you guys like it. Should I go for it?_


	2. Jokul Frosti

_Somewhere in Norway(?) - Morning_

There he was...

A boy standing in front of a girl...

And he had no idea what he was supposed to do.

Thankfully, his next move was wrestled from his hands when a smiling snowman tugged on his sleeve.

"Hi! I'm Olaf. Who are you?"

So a talking snowman could see him. _Figures_.

Jack looked down at Olaf with a smile.

"Hey there. I'm Jack. Jack Frost."

"Hi, Jack! Glad you could come to Anna's wedding!"

His hand automatically found his neck as he laughed sheepishly.

"Yeah. It's, uh, a nice wedding. The snowflakes and all..."

"Oh! Oh! Elsa made those! And she made me too! Cool, huh?"

"Right. Cool."

Jack started to wonder if he could make a moving snowman too. He'd never tried it before. Frost bunnies, yeah, but talking snowmen...hmm.

"Ooh! Do you wanna see her do more magic?"

Olaf grabbed his hand and started tugging him towards the queen.

"Elsa! Elsa!"

"Olaf! There you are."

The moment she saw the snowman, she had let a gentle smile appear on her face. Like the smile a mother had. Well, Olaf was kind of her child when you thought about it.

"Elsa, meet Jack!"

Olaf introduced him with a flourish and a wave of his twig arms. Her eyes automatically shifted to the area where Jack was standing.

From a closer view, Jack could see that her blue eyes had a hint of green. And that she had some light freckles on her face.

"Um. Who?"

"Jack Frost! He said your snowflakes were really pretty-"

"Where...?"

With a confused look on her face, she tried to find who Olaf was referring to.

"Huh? But he's right here."

"I don't-"

So she couldn't see him. _Figures_.

"Elsa!"

The bride or Princess Anna bounded to them and grabbed the queen's arm.

"C'mon! You're supposed to blow the bugle horn already!"

"Oh! Right!"

And off they went, flurrying skirts and flapping capes and all.

"It's okay, Jack. Elsa is gonna do the magic soon so let's just wait for it!"

Olaf smiled happily at him as if the thing with Elsa not seeing Jack didn't just happen.

Jack smiled back at the snowman.

"Okay, sure."

As if on cue, the sound of a bugle horn echoed across the courtyard and the crowd cheered loudly again.

Uniformed men and women then started distributing plates of wedding cake to everyone. Obviously, they couldn't see Jack so he was left without cake. It was fine though since he didn't really need to eat anyway.

A few moments later, Olaf started bouncing and tugging on Jack's sleeve.

"Oh! This is it!"

Everyone including Jack turned to where Elsa was standing in the middle of the courtyard.

"Congratulations, Anna and Kristoff! Cheers to both of you!"

With the graceful wave of her arms, she shot her power into the sky.

It exploded into what looked like fireworks, except it was made of very tiny ice crystals that sparkled and shone in the sunlight.

It was a beautiful sight. Just like her.

More cheers came from the crowd and Jack stayed a while to join in on the festivities.

Olaf had mentioned ice skating that would happen later on. Jack figured that, since he was the Guardian of Fun, he could contribute to the fun factor with some snowballs and his own snowflakes here and there.

* * *

 _Arendelle - Late Evening_

Jack had thought that the party would last until dawn the next day. That was how it worked in all the weddings he'd attended (crashed) over the centuries. But it seemed that the Queen had other ideas.

Dinner had been served an hour after sunset because, as she explained, the newlyweds had to tuck in early tonight. It seemed that they had to leave early tomorrow morning for their celebration with the family of the groom.

Jack wondered why the family wasn't there at the wedding in the first place, but then who was he to judge, right?

It was before midnight when the guests finally said their good nights. The townspeople went back to their homes. Some of those who arrived by boat also went into town as they were staying in the inns. Others, who also looked like royalty, were given rooms at the castle.

Over the course of that day, he'd learned many things about the place and the people. One, he was in a kingdom called Arendelle. Two, Queen Elsa and Princess Anna were sisters. Three, the children here could see him though they recognized him by the name of Jokul Frosti. He didn't really mind since all the children in Norway, and not just those who believed in him, called him that.

He wasn't really sure where and when the stories about him started. Maybe it had been Manny who sparked the idea in a child's mind. Either way, he was happy that kids in Norway at least knew about him even if they didn't all believe in him.

Oh, and there was another thing that he learned about Arendelle. This one really bugged him too. There wasn't any electricity here. No TVs, no phones-not even a light bulb. Everybody was using lanterns and lamps like Jack did back when he was still human.

As he was trying to figure out the thing with the electricity, he noticed the Queen with two other people at the foot of the stairs where he was currently floating around.

"Thank you, Kai. Thank you, Gerda. Everything was perfect."

"Oh, you're very much welcome, Your Majesty. It wouldn't have been possible without the marvelous decor you made."

"Yes, they were truly lovely! They were your greatest work yet!"

"Thank you. Good night."

There was a tinge of pink on her cheeks as she nodded at them. Then, she turned towards the stairs and started walking up.

The couple bowed at her and held their position until she was out of their line of sight.

* * *

Jack followed after her as she went into her room. He hoped that she wouldn't start changing her clothes right away because that would make him a peeping tom.

Thankfully, she walked straight up to her window where she sat on the ledge and stared out into the town.

She had such a wistful look on her face that Jack couldn't help but want to cheer her up.

Walking up beside her, he touched a glass pane and frosted it up with a swirly pattern he'd noticed all over the castle.

Upon noticing the forst, she jumped up and away from her seat with a slightly panicked look on her face. Then, she examined her hands to see if she'd done it.

Hmm. He didn't want that.

He frosted up the window one pane at a time to form something.

There was the H and there was the I.

He turned back to the Queen who looked like she'd just realized something.

"...Hi?"

He let out a tiny flurry of snowflakes in reply.

"Who-who's there?"

She raised her hands in front of her in a defensive stance. Her eyes were darting wildly and her breathing was hitching. She was starting to panic.

He walked up to her and placed a snowflake on her nose.

She stared hard at it then turned her attention back to the frosted window. It took a while before she suddenly had an enlightened look on her face.

"Jokul Frosti...?" she breathed out.

Jack smiled and frosted a swirly pattern on the floor.

"The children...the children were talking about Jokul Frosti making snowballs earlier, but I didn't think-I wasn't expecting _this_."

There was a slight pause as she twirled to examine the frosted pattern on the floor.

"No, no, no, it's just a bedtime story," she mumbled as she grabbed the window curtain.

Jack frowned and made it snow in her room.

"Wha-Why? How? I can't believe this."

She looked up at her ceiling, her hands firmly clasped against her chest.

Jack stopped the private showing of his snow and sat down on the chair at her vanity. He waited for what she was going to do or say next.

With a look of trepidation on her face, she scuffed the pointed toe of her shoe on the frosted floor. Then, she bit her lower lip and twiddled with her braid.

She looked around her room but Jack was sure that she still couldn't see him so she likely found nothing that could answer the questions milling in her head.

With a loud exhale, she finally turned back to the frosted window. She slowly raised her hand and placed her palm flat on the surface. She spread out her fingers and closed her eyes. Her brow furrowed as she concentrated on something. It was a minute before she spoke again.

"I can't undo it. It's...not mine? This frost isn't mine? So it really is...?"

She sat back on the window ledge with a look of amazement on her face. Turning her wide eyes back into her room, she scanned for any changes yet found none. Jack could see the wonder slowly dissipate from her smile.

"The children said they could see you, but why can't I?"

With a sad smile on his face to match her own, Jack wondered why himself.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Well, here's chapter two. Sorry about the quality. It's bad, I know. I haven't written fanfiction in such a long time. I had no idea I was this rusty. *cries*_


	3. See Me

_Arendelle - Late Evening_

"Why are you here, Jokul Frosti?"

Elsa spoke with such a hushed voice that Jack wouldn't have caught her question if he hadn't been paying close attention to her. It was just too bad that he couldn't respond to her right away given the situation.

With silence resounding between them, she twiddled her thumbs as she slowly traced the pattern on the floor with her foot. The prim and proper queen from earlier in the day was nowhere to be found in the room. There was only a vulnerable young woman here. A woman who Jack wished could see him.

From the look of things, she did believe that he was there. That wasn't enough to make him visible to her though, apparently. Maybe that was just how it worked with adults. Jack couldn't be sure though since he'd never tried to make adults believe in him before. They were usually hard to convince about spirits and supernatural beings; stubborn 'realists' that they are.

"Are you here because of what happened last summer?"

She said it with such a guilty expression on her face that Jack couldn't help but be curious as to what she possibly did.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry. I know it was bad and the whole kingdom was in danger. But I managed to fix it."

She stood up with a defiant look on her face but her hands were shaking. And she was facing the wrong way. If she turned 90 degrees to her right, she would be looking at where Jack remained seated at her vanity.

"And I can control my powers better now. I promise it won't happen again. I'm sorry."

The regal queen from earlier was back, it seemed. Jack was glad for it since he hadn't enjoyed watching her brooding. He liked this version of her better.

"Are you still there?," Elsa questioned while looking around the room.

He swung his staff and directed three snowflakes her way to show her that he was still around.

"Oh. Hmm. Well, you still haven't answered any of my questions...?"

Yeah, Jack really needed to figure out how he could communicate with her. She didn't need to rub that in his face though. He was already having a hard time looking for a solution without the pressure.

Grumbling beneath his breath, Jack walked up to the window near where Elsa was standing. Using the tip of his index finger, he wrote on the frost, "wait".

It only took a few seconds for Elsa to notice what he was doing. When she nodded at his message, he started drawing. Or at least he _tried_ to draw. His skills were kind of limited to Easter eggs and bunnies, after all, but those weren't what he needed to draw right now.

He wanted to draw Mother Nature but all he managed to get on the window was a lame stick figure of a lady with really long hair.

"A woman? A woman with long hair? Um..."

There begins their little game of frost charades.

Jack racked his brain on how he was supposed to portray the lady on the window as a 'mother' and that of 'nature'. As he heard a light bulb click on in his head, he added a stick figure of a kid.

"A child? Mother and son?"

He encircled the drawing of the lady.

"A mother?"

He started drawing trees around the stick figures, along with some lightning and waves.

"A mother went into a forest and there was a storm? Oh my!"

Letting out a load groan of frustration, Jack leaned his forehead on the window. When he turned back to the queen, she had a really weird look on her face.

"What?" he drawled. "No, wait. You can't hear me. Urgh."

Elsa gasped and took a sudden step back. That made her trip on her own dress and sent her tumbling down into a heap on the floor.

"Whoa there! You okay?"

"Jo-jokul Frosti!?"

His eyebrows shot up into his hairline. Was it possible?

Jack knelt down and waved his hand in front of her face but that didn't trigger any reaction.

"Hmm. Still can't see me."

"No, but I can hear you just fine," she gasped out.

Jack stared at her. And stared. And stared. And stared. Then he laughed.

"What's so funny?" she asked with a pout.

"Nothing. Just me being stupid and trying to draw stuff when we could've just talked," he answered between chuckles.

"Oh. Okay then, Sir Jokul Frosti."

"Uh, yeah. Just call me Jack. Jack Frost."

Elsa had carefully arranged her skirts and was now trying to stand up from her spot on the floor. Jack also got back on his feet as he watched her.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Jack Frost. I have to say that you caught me by surprise there."

She wobbled on her heels as her formfitting skirt impeded her progress from the floor. Jack thought she looked unsteady when she suddenly stumbled forward.

Out of a force of habit, Jack had waved his staff to cushion her fall with some snow. He expected her to just pass through him and land on the pile he'd conjured.

"OOF!"

Her shoulder slammed into his ribcage sending him tumbling down with her.

Nothing could have been a more apt title than "Frozen" for when the snow finally settled around them. Neither of them budged an inch when they realized what had just happened. They were both slightly gasping for breath; the rising and falling of their chests making them even more aware of their positions.

"...Jack?"

Her hand that had been lying on his collarbone gingerly moved to his throat causing Jack to swallow.

"...Yeah? I guess this is me."

Elsa shot up from where she had been squishing him with her (comfortable) weight and clambered to the foot of her four-poster bed .

"I'm so sorry! That was clumsy of me," she apologized before she started rambling to herself. "Dear Odin, there really is someone there. He was there. He is there. But I still can't see anything. Dear sweet merciful Odin. Am I going blind? Maybe I'm overworked..."

Jack wasn't sure if he wanted to laugh at her rambling or gape at how she could touch him when she couldn't even see him.

When he saw her finally start calming down, he cleared his throat.

"Sorry about that."

"Oh no! That-that was my fault."

"I'm coming over, okay? Don't be surprised."

She nodded so Jack walked up to where she was seated tightly grasping her braid.

"Can you put your hand out?"

Elsa looked liked she wanted to ask why but then she followed his request without saying anything. Jack smiled as he took her hand.

"Hi, Elsa. Nice to meet you too."

* * *

 _Had a hard time uploading the file for this. But here it is._


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